


The Arc of Conflict, Fragment e19,4: January

by bzarcher, solarbird



Series: Of Gods and Monsters [129]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Anger, Artificial Intelligence, Background Poly, Background Relationships, F/F, Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Germany, Injury Recovery, Long-Distance Relationship, Multi, Other, Polyamorous Character, Post-Talon, Post-War, Recovery, Trans Sombra | Olivia Colomar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher, https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbird/pseuds/solarbird
Summary: Overwatch - or what is left of it - is at war with the Gods of Oasis. Russia is in a parallel war with itself, Katya Volskaya's government against the popular uprising led by the Aleksandra Zaryanova, the Goddess of Russia. As winter sets in, Zarya's March to Moscow has slowed to a crawl.The old year has rolled out, and the new year has rolled in, as both Brigitte and her family struggle with her new reality.Of Gods and Monsters: The Arc of Conflictis a continuance ofThe Arc of Ascension,The Arc of Creation, andThe Armourer and the Living Weapon. To follow the story as it appears,please subscribe to the series.
Relationships: Brigitte Lindholm & Reinhardt Wilhelm, Brigitte Lindholm & Torbjörn Lindholm, Brigitte Lindholm/Lúcio Correia dos Santos/Hana "D.Va" Song
Series: Of Gods and Monsters [129]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024
Comments: 16
Kudos: 23





	The Arc of Conflict, Fragment e19,4: January

**Author's Note:**

> [The formerly invitation-only widowtracer discord server](https://discord.gg/NKnPpx43mK) has decided to open up to widowtracerly fans in general - yes, gingerspider shippers are welcome - so come join that if you like!
> 
> BUFFER WATCH: JANUARY 24, 2021.
> 
> dirtyclaws has launched [a public fan-run _Of Gods and Monsters_ discord server](https://discord.gg/pDZMpVT) and invites everyone to come join it!

"Brigitte! I'm ba-aaaack! Where are you?"

"Checking out the undercarriage!" Brigitte called back to Reinhardt from underneath their transport. "I got nervous about it after we hit that mine yesterday, wanted to check it before we go back out tomorrow."

Their travels had taken them near the site of some of the worst First Omnic War fighting in Germany, and they'd volunteered to help get a long-closed road reopened, reconnecting smaller villages in the foothills. That included discovering the occasional IED - once, the hard way. It might not be the same as fighting extortion rings or Null Sector cells, but arguably, it did more good.

"Ah! Excellent!" he said from behind the eight heavy bags of groceries he carried. "How does it look?"

"I think it's fine. I don't see any damage to the physical armour, and the shield emitters all check out."

Reinhardt found his way over to their camp table, and watched as Brigitte lowered the truck back to ground and slid out from underneath. She hadn't bothered with a jack - she'd just lifted it, the transport in one arm, a diagnostics scanner in the other.

He told himself that the levitation system probably had a lot of the weight. But he also knew he couldn't do it.

"What'd you get?" she asked, as he put the bags down, carefully, making sure nothing spilled. "Did they have any bananas?"

"I got everything on the list, plus some of the local beer, plus some essentials," he said, reaching into one bag, and tossing her a package of tampons. "They weren't on the list, but..."

Brigitte breathed a nervous half-laugh half-cough as she caught the package. "Yeah, I... don't really need those anymore."

"What?" Rein asked, confused, then blinked. "Brigitte..."

"Hm?"

"Does... does that mean no children? I know you've always wanted..."

"No!" Brigitte said, quickly. "No, no. I can still have kids." She laughed, a happier sound this time. "If you think I've been mad about this now, you don't even want to know how mad I'd've been about _that_."

Reinhardt smiled and relaxed a little. "So that is not the other surprise you haven't found yet, then."

"Na, na, that's not it. The one thing I let Angela explain to me was the voluntary fertility part of... all this. I have to admit, that part's pretty good. And I can still have as many kids as I want."

She bounced the package in the air, juggling it between her hands. "But it's okay! These make great bandages and we can put them with the first aid kit."

"I suppose so! Besides, you never know who you might run into, on the road." He walked over to their transport, opening the side panels, loading away the groceries.

Brigitte snorted. "You mean like Hana, or like Ree?"

Fareeha had sent her a letter, via paper mail, reaching out, offering to talk, saying she knew what it was like to not have the opportunity to make certain choices, mentioning how the Overwatch brats always stuck together, and how that didn't have to be any less true now. Brigitte hadn't replied - but she was thinking about it.

"Nah," she continued, after the moment of thought. "None of..."

She frowned, catching the package.

"... _them._ None of _them_ need these anyway."

She took a deep breath, and let it out.

"You almost said 'us,' didn't you?" Reinhardt asked, gently.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I did. Damn, this is insidious."

"You miss Hana."

Brigitte shuddered out a long breath, then nodded.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I don't want to. I ... feel like I shouldn't. But I do."

"I am not a psychologist. But I suppose the question would be whether you miss her more than you did before."

"I can't tell. I don't know! It's so frustrating."

"Does Lúcio miss her?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He does. He wants to talk to her again, but... not without me. So we're not. Yet."

"If there is someone you should talk to, I think it is your mother," he said, putting away the beer - then pulling one back out, to drink, and a second, to give to Brigitte. "Your father is like me, sometimes - not as good at talking about his feelings when he should be. But your mother has her head on right."

Brigitte chuckled, took the offered bottle, popping off the top with her thumb. "Talk to my _own mother_ about my _love life?_ Do you hear yourself?"

"Not what I said!" He poured his bottle into his preferred stein, letting the foam rise just so much, and no more. "Talk to her about your _feelings._ See what she thinks."

"Huh," Brigitte said, taking a swig straight from the bottle. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea."

\-----

"It's okay," Hana said to Sombra, setting up for another stream. "It's not great, but I'm coping."

"You sure, hon? Are you even talking anymore?"

"Not..." She huffed. "Not really. They know I'm here when they want to talk, and I know not to push it. They know it wasn't my fault, but... they're still both mad - _really_ mad - about what happened. And I was there for it. So I have to wait while they sort it all out."

The Russians had denied having any role whatsoever in bringing down Dolphin 102, but they'd done it in that particularly Russian way which really meant, "and if we did, it wasn't on purpose."

"That's still gotta be hard," Beatbox replied, as Hana checked sound levels and video setup. "Misdirected anger is still anger."

"Yeah," Hana sighed. "It is. I miss them so much - even more than before. So things are pretty bad right now, but... they know I love them. And I know they love me. I just have to give them... a lot of space for a while. I needed it, Zarya needed it, we all just need some... space. For a while. Sometimes. Like now."

She put on her best D.va smile as her followers began logging in for her livestream. She kept it determinedly all-ages, particularly since finding out how many younger kids she'd picked up over the last year, even from places like Moscow. The VPNs might've obscured their locations as far as the streaming service was concerned, but between Beatbox and the chat, where people were from became pretty clear.

"...and even if things are kind of worse now, at least I know..." She managed half a smile. "Nobody's gonna die. _They_ aren't gonna die. So if it takes a while, it takes a while. We have all the time in the world. We can work it out. Eventually."

She nodded determinedly, mostly for herself.

"I can deal with that."

\-----

"I talked it over with Ingrid, you know," Torbjörn said, from his factory office. "After Brigitte and Reinhardt went back out on the road."

"How'd she react?" Jack asked, from Tibet, up late again.

"I've never seen her so angry."

"After what they did? I can't blame her."

"No, Jack. Not at them. At me."

"At you?" The commander huffed a laugh of surprise. "Why?!"

"Because I would've hesitated."

Over the comms, Jack could see Torbjörn start to pace around his workshop, as he would, when trying to figure something out. "Because I wouldn't have just said, 'Yes! Of course! Why are you even asking when you could be treating her already? Do whatever you must - just save my daughter!'"

"Ah," Jack whispered.

Torbjörn stopped in his pacing, looked down at the cement floor, and slowly shook his head.

"And honestly, Jack - when you step back just a bit... I think she might have a point."

Morrison pursed his lips, but kept his opinion on that to himself. "Be that as it may - how's _she_ doing?"

"Brigitte?" Torbjörn asked, looking up.

"Yeah."

"Fine. Or so it seems from here." He walked over to his small-tools workbench, and started to put the various tools away. "Reinhardt says she's fine. He says it's like nothing ever happened - except that she can just about carry that silly van of his around on her back now."

"Still in Germany, then?"

"Germany, and Poland. Moving around, chasing down bad guys, like they used to." He chuckled. "They spent the last week clearing mines out of some roads in hill country. Munitions left over from the first war. Stuff like that."

"Admirable," Morrison said. "That's dangerous work."

"Apparently not for her. One blew up underneath her, threw her a few meters into the air, covered her in powdered rock. She just dusted off and got back to it."

A little _huh_ noise, not quite a cough, from Morrison. "Of course not." He shook his head. "If only... if only they were just a little more human - or a little _less_ human - maybe they could work out. Maybe there'd be a place for them."

"She's still my daughter, Jack," Torbjörn frowned.

"Of course, old friend. Of course. And we'll get her back, eventually, I promise. Somehow."

Torbjörn put the last of the tools - a pair of curved-tip needle nose pliers - back onto its hook, and dusted his hands on a towel. "Well, I'm done here for the day. Ingrid's probably waiting for me outside, already. It's nice to be home again. I've missed it."

"Then I'll let you go. I should get to bed myself. Keep me informed, won't you?"

"I will, Jack," the engineer agreed. "Good night."

Commander Morrison watched his friend's image disappear, and shut down his padd for the night. He'd finished the evening briefing hours ago, regardless.

"Commander?"

He looked up, surprised at the voice.

"Yes, Athena?"

"May I ask a question about your conversation with Torbjörn?"

"Of course."

"Why is it important that they be either more, or less, human?"

"I doubt I could explain it to you, Athena."

"I understand, but would you try?"

He leaned forward at his desk, one hand over the other, resting his head on his hands for a moment as he tried to figure out how to explain it in words.

"Well, it's like this. They're humans who... aren't really human, anymore. It's not a matter of bodies - omnics aren't human physically, but they mostly are where it counts. Zenyatta might make jokes about submarines swimming, but the results are still very human." He glanced up at Athena's primary camera. "His religion is proof of that. Does that make sense to you?"

"Yes," Athena lied, "it does."

"The 'gods,' though - they _don't_ think like humans. I wonder a little if they think like the AIs did - and they're just as dangerous. Uh. Present company excepted, of course."

"Of course."

"I have to admit, I got a little worried when you started relocating your data centers after Gibraltar - it got me a bit paranoid, particularly in the moment. But you've been fine ever since. Sorry if any of that ever came out. It wasn't deserved."

"Do not worry, Commander. I am not offended."

"Thanks," he said, with a brief nod. "But to get back to the point - it's not just that they don't think like humans - it's that they're also... so powerful. Far too powerful. They don't recognise any limits, and I don't think they ever will. They'll do whatever they decide is 'needed,' no matter what anyone else - human or omnic - thinks. If it didn't come with so much power, things might be different. But it does."

He leaned back in his chair.

"There have to be limits. There has to be somebody willing and able to push back. There can't ever be a time when there isn't someone willing and able, or they really will be 'gods' on earth."

He sagged a little in his chair, looking either tired or sleepy, and even Athena wasn't sure which.

"But sooner or later... that's exactly what will happen. They're the serpents offering fruit, if you know those old metaphors. It'll work this time, too."

"I see," Athena said, meaning more than he meant.

"I still think we can fix what Moira did to them," he said. "And what she did to herself. Reversed, somehow. But even if they can't, they have to be stopped - while anyone can still stop them. For all our sakes."

"Thank you, Commander," Athena said, after a moment. "I believe I understand."

Jack Morrison nodded, pushed his chair back, stepped around his desk and headed for the hallway. He'd gone officially off-shift hours ago, so there wasn't anyone needing to be notified.

"I'm off to bed. If you have any other questions in the morning - or whenever, really - don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, Commander. I won't."

He keyed open his office door. "Good night, Athena."

"Good night," she replied, as the door closed.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fifty-eighth instalment of _Of Gods and Monsters: The Arc of Conflict_. To follow the story, [subscribe to the series via this link](https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024), rather than to the individual works.


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